If Ajmal was not banned, would Yasir have ever played a Test?

What if Ajmal was not banned by Kumble or the ICC, would the leggie have ever played a Test?

KARACHI: Saeed Ajmal last played a Test for Pakistan in August 2014. His appearance came under intense scrutiny and soon after he faced a long ban as his bowling action was declared illegal.

All hell broke loose among the bitter and disillusioned Pakistan cricket fraternity. The sentimental fans and even some leading cricket pundits alleged the International Cricket Council (ICC) was perhaps targeting bowlers from Pakistan.

Anil Kumble – chief of the ICC cricket committee – initiated the so-called battle against chucking, but there was a growing feeling of discontent since many Indian bowlers with dubious actions escaped censure.

After Ajmal’s ban, Pakistan started searching for a replacement spinner. Some promising youngsters were mentioned but very few scouts spoke about a certain Yasir Shah. He had already played limited-overs international cricket on the tour of Zimbabwe in 2011 without actually setting the world alight.

A few days after the tour of Sri Lanka ended – the venue of Ajmal’s last Test – I ran into Basit Ali, a former batsman who coaches the SNGPL departmental team. While discussing Ajmal’s replacement, he quipped: “Yasir will be selected for the Tests against Australia. You just sit back and see what he does.”

Basit has a habit of delivering some outrageous statements and claims that border on the hilarious at times. And since I had not seen much of Yasir, I quietly nodded, mumbling under my breath: “We will see that.”

The coach was correct. Yasir was selected and almost from the start, started bamboozling the Australians. Pakistan won the two Tests in Dubai and Abu Dhabi at a canter with Yasir taking 12 wickets in his first two Tests.

New Zealand were Yasir and Pakistan’s next rival. The leg-spinner continued to mesmerise, collecting 15 more wickets across the three match series.

His next stop was Bangladesh, Pakistan won the two-match series 1-0 and Yasir added 10 more scalps to his kitty.

Sri Lanka at home were going to be a serious challenge considering the traditional strength of their batsmen against spin bowling. Yasir though didn’t care a tad. Smiling through each spell of his, he left the batsmen hoodwinked no less than 24 times in the three-match series.

Since Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were tamed with ease, what chance did England have against their perennial weakness – quality leg-spin bowling?

Yasir took 15 wickets as Pakistan won both Tests of the series in the UAE last year – the last series he featured in before his Lord’s heroics.

Ajmal and his spin bowling partner Abdur Rehman faded away from the Test scene after the August 2014 tour of Sri Lanka. Since then, Pakistan have played 14 Tests winning nine and losing only two.

Yasir has featured in 13 of those Tests, missing one not due to his wife’s blood pressure pills but due to the back injury he sustained on the eve of the first Test against England in last winter’s 2-0 win in the UAE.

In these 13 games, he has a whopping 86 wickets in his kitty. He is officially the best Test bowler now – a fact endorsed by the latest ICC rankings for bowlers. He also has in his sights the record of fastest 100 wickets in Test cricket – he needs 14 more in his next two Tests to beat a 120-year-old record.

Basit, in a brief telephonic conversation from England where he is currently coaching the Pakistan A team, minced no words and boasted proudly about his protégé.

“There was a reason about my confidence in him when I mentioned him to you two years ago. When he came under my guidance, he was only bowling the googly and the flipper. I made him do some special drills, which helped him master his leg-spin. I used to tire him out so much that his shoulder used to hurt, but once he developed strength in his arm and shoulder, I told him that no one could catch him anymore.”

Even if the above statement is another one of Basit’s outlandish ones, I have no reason to disbelieve him anymore – after all his prophecy of two years ago has come true in no uncertain terms.

But let’s sit back and think for a moment, what if Ajmal was not banned by Kumble or the ICC, would Yasir have ever played a Test?

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2016.